It would take at least a slim volume to provide you with all of the necessary nuances of preparing your own trademark application. An article can hardly do it justice, so if you want to protect your trademark and feel uncomfortable about doing it yourself, consult with an attorney qualified in trademark matters and have that attorney prepare and file your application. If, on the other hand, you want to protect a trademark you created through a Federal trademark registration (valid in all 50 states and territories), and feel that you could handle an online form, then, here is your brief guide.

The interests of young adults are more in tune with athletic performance than with preventing the diseases of aging. John J. Cannell, M.D., is reaching out to the young adult audience to help them be healthier for life, by teaching them how to become faster, quicker and stronger as athletes. However, we all can learn how to be healthier from his teachings. Dr. Cannell is a physician, scientist, researcher, teacher and perhaps most importantly, a health activist.

“Dark chocolate is good for your heart! It’s good for your brain! It energizes you!” Too often we hear about the health benefits of dark chocolate without much explanation of why it is good. These reports are not just a way to make us feel better about the sweets we ingest. So, what is it about dark chocolate that has nutrition enthusiasts so excited? It turns out it is not the sugary milk chocolate bar we can thank; it’s cocoa.

Last month, we discussed with Dr. Robert Smith how the media distorted a questionable observational study with multivitamins. Just as scientists were setting the record straight about that study, a vitamin E study captured headlines. Fortunately, Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., quickly distributed accurate information through the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service (OMNS). Dr. Saul was kind enough to further discuss vitamin E and the recent report with us.

Giving seminars around the country, I ask natural products retailers to tell me why they think it is important to tell the story of their store. “Because we care,” says one. “Because we’re knowledgeable,” answers another. “Because we help,” offers yet a third. All true. But the most important reason in my view is, if you don’t tell the story of your store—what you do, and why and how you do it—the world will gladly fill in the vacuum left by your silence.

Were you like the millions of Americans who rang in the New Year by making a resolution for 2012? Funny thing about those resolutions. They rarely make it to the spring. Here’s a resolution I challenge you to keep: Get to know that person staring back at you in the mirror a little better.

The human liver performs about 500 vital functions in the body! So, it is important to understand that some of our everyday practices could seriously interrupt liver functions and cause diseases that can otherwise be avoided. Knowing which foods and supplements can benefit the liver can take you a long way in staying healthy (1).

Let’s clarify what a recent study of multivitamins actually found and put this one study in perspective with the larger body of scientific evidence on multivitamins. The “take home” message is that most people are not getting the recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals solely from their diets and are healthier with supplementation to overcome their multiple deficiencies. Secondly, no, there is no valid scientific evidence that taking multivitamins shortens anyone’s life. Dr. Robert Smith and I will discuss some of the most important details later in this column.